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Forum:Combat statistics in middle-click hover window
Hi there -- first-time Freeciv player that got schooled for a while over the weekend until I managed to cram through the Combat documentation. I discovered early on that having a combat unit selected and middle-clicking on an enemy unit gives you a window with information about that unit, including the chances of winning combat both offensively and defensively. However! -- and frankly this is a bug, because wrong information is worse than none at all -- I learned after a few hours of painful losses that those percentages simply can't be trusted: * If you are attacking a stack of units and the unit that actually defends isn't on top, it will give you percentages for the wrong unit and thus you will probably die ignominiously. * If you are attacking a unit while at less than full strength, I'm not sure it takes that into account. In fact, the in-game help says nothing about wounded units attacking with less power; I had to find that out from the wiki. * I'm pretty sure it doesn't take defensive terrain into account at all, which is a lethal mistake when attacking a unit in mountains. Between these three factors, I would regularly find veteran catapults getting wiped out without causing a scratch when attacking archers. It took me 15 minutes of consistent losses to comes to grips with the fact that the listed "99%" win chance was a joke, and a lot longer to read the docs in ridiculous detail and calculate in my head what my actual chances of success were. I wish I'd known from the beginning that fortified units in mountains are basically invulnerable at low to medium tech levels; it would have changed my play strategy a great deal. Baxil 00:56, 5 May 2009 (UTC) ---- im a long time player of freeciv, i oughta get myself a account... anyways, when i go toe to toe with a opponent (kinda weird since im canadian, eh?), i just use common sense when attacking, so.. warrior on warrior, mine has full health, he has half health on a desert, im gonna win. i have no health and he has half, im on a mountain and fortress, and he attacks, its a 50/50.. just start thinking. tylan4life (Braeden) 09:17, December 24, 2009 (UTC) ?? editing is confusing lol The middle-click percentages seem to be accurate. I play Freeciv 2.1.x and I frequently use the middle-click percentages to plan my battles. These percentages do consider defensive terrain. For example, I wanted that my veteran Phalanx would leave my city, but I feared the attack of a nearby veteran Catapult of the enemy. While my Phalanx stayed inside my city (which is on mountain and has City Walls), the defense chance was above 90%. When my Phalanx stepped outside to an adjacent mountain, my Phalanx lost the fortification of the city and the protection of the walls. My defense chance became 50%. * Attack of enemy Catapult = 6 × 1.5 (veteran) = 9 attack * Defense of my Phalanx = 2 × 1.5 (veteran) × 3 (mountain) = 9 defense * Both units have 10 HP and 1 FP. My defense chance is 50% because the attack power of the enemy Catapult equals the defense power of my Phalanx. The "D: 50%" appears when I select my Phalanx and middle-click the enemy Catapult. If Freeciv ignored the mountain under my Phalanx, then the middle-click number would be much less than 50%. Therefore, Freeciv considered the mountain as defensive terrain while computing the percentage. --Kernigh 03:37, December 26, 2009 (UTC)